The body of Shivanand Chaurasia, who was among the three Indian seafarers killed in a US military attack on a commercial vessel near the Oman coast, has reached his village here.
The body of Chaurasia, who was working as an engine fitter on a tanker operated by a foreign shipping company, arrived at the Delhi airport from Muscat early Wednesday morning. It was later flown to the Gorakhpur airport and brought to his native Surauli village by road on Wednesday evening.
As the body reached the village, the atmosphere turned sombre, with Chaurasia's parents, wife and brother breaking down. Several police teams and administrative officials were deployed in the village and they tried to pacify the family members.
The family demanded an ex gratia of Rs 1 crore each from the Centre and the state government, a government job for a dependent and martyr status for him. They refused to perform the last rites and did not allow the body to be taken out of the ambulance for nearly three hours.
District Magistrate Madhusudan Hulgi received the family's memorandum and assured them of necessary action, officials said.
Around 9.30 pm, the family agreed to allow the body to be taken for a second post-mortem. The last rites will be performed on Thursday, they said.
Deoria MP Shashank Mani remained in touch with the family and was coordinating with the central government for bringing back Chaurasia's body.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the issue, in broad terms, of the safety of seafarers with US President Trump at the start of their bilateral meeting in Evian, France, on the fringes of the G7 Summit.
“Mr. President, you are aware across the world, Indian seafarers in the hundreds of thousands are working and performing their duties across global maritime trade routes, including the Strait of Hormuz, and their safety is of utmost importance to us,” Modi said, referring to the killing of three Indian seafarers in a US strike last week off the coast of Oman.
Referring to Indian sailors working on maritime trade routes, including through the Strait of Hormuz, Modi said their safety was of “utmost importance” and expressed confidence that the issue of seafarers would receive the “highest priority” when the agreement between Washington and Tehran is implemented.
Trump replied: “Yeah, I do”. But, then he went on to describe seafaring as “a rough profession”. He added that the US and India “work together on it”, but noted that “this has been happening throughout time”.
Earlier this month, India twice summoned the acting head of the US mission after American military action against commercial vessels in the Gulf led to the deaths of Indian sailors. External affairs minister S. Jaishankar later conveyed India’s “strong protest” directly to secretary of state Marco Rubio.
Washington subsequently defended the attacks. In its account of the Rubio-Jaishankar conversation, the state department made no mention of India’s protest and instead stressed that violations of the US blockade on Iranian oil would not be tolerated.
Chaurasia and two other Indian sailors were killed on June 10 when the US struck a Palau-flagged tanker, Settebello, off the coast of Oman.
There were 24 Indian crew members on board the tanker. While 21 crew members were rescued, three, including Chaurasia, went missing. Their bodies were recovered on June 11.